The Mystery of a Family (2)

It is indeed unreasonable for an intern to look for this case file that has been sealed for many years. Meng Siqi was a little embarrassed for a moment. If she just walked away, Lu He would definitely be very suspicious of her; and if she said that it was Team Han who asked her to find it, it would seem that Team Two would be suspected of secretly investigating Team One's case.

Her mind had never worked so fast before. In the end, all she said were a few simple, slightly nervous words: "Hello, Team Lu!"

Instead of this, it is better to say nothing.

Lu He did not reply. He reached out and slowly took down the file of the "Red Lacquer Case". A cloud of dust suddenly rose up, blocking the view of the two people.

This might be a good time to slip away, so she turned around and left without thinking too much. Unexpectedly, Lu He came over from the other end of the bookshelf, and his magnetic and powerful voice instantly echoed in the silent and empty space: "Meng Siqi!"

She was stunned. She had never thought that Lu He would know her.

She turned around slowly and put on a forced smile: "Team Lu knows me."

"Why are you looking for this file?" Lu He stood tall and straight, his eyes were not as sharp as before, and there was a hint of tentative judgment in his question.

His facial features were distinct. In this dimly lit filing room, his facial lines looked even sharper and his pupils were as deep as the sea. He didn't have the strong aura that he had when he first met him. Instead, he looked a little gentle.

In the end, we can't escape this topic.

"Uh..." She used her imagination at high speed and paused for a moment before saying, "Captain Lu, a family murder case happened yesterday, and I wanted to find out if there were similar cases in the past... but unfortunately I didn't find any!"

"Oh——" Lu He said lightly.

Not sure what this "oh" meant, Meng Siqi always felt that it was not that simple, but if she stayed here any longer, something would definitely be exposed. She immediately said, "If the team has nothing else to do, I will leave first."

Lu He did not respond to her. His eyes were calm and his thin lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something but did not.

Meng Siqi smiled casually, turned around and walked out. While writing in the registration book, she found that her palms were sweating.

In fact, it's not a big deal. Why did she get so upset just now? Maybe this man always gives people a feeling of scrutiny.

After handing the case file back, Meng Siqi roughly understood the current progress of the case. The male deceased, Zhu Gongyou, was the financial manager of a steel company. In July of the second half of this year, a fire suddenly broke out in the finance office, and Zhu Gongyou also came to the bureau to accept investigation.

It was Team 2 that was in charge of the arson case at the time. Worker Zhu testified that the fire was caused by aging wires in the Yanxia office. Later, Team 2 did go to the steel company to check the condition of wires in other offices and found that there was indeed a possibility of causing the fire, so the case was not investigated further.

Now that worker Zhu was suddenly killed at home, the fire that happened not long ago can't help but make people have many associations. Is it related to worker Zhu's death?

Han Changlin arranged the task again, asking Feng Shaomin and Tang Xiaochuan to go to Zhu Gongyou's company to understand the situation, and asking Zhao Leiting and Meng Siqi to go to the neighborhood around the deceased to understand the situation again.

In the morning, Zhao Leiting took Meng Siqi around the community. Meng Siqi held a map in her hand and made some marks as she walked. She found that the community had four entrances and exits in the east, south, west and north, and the deceased's house was on the east side. In other words, if the murderer wanted to save time, he would most likely enter from the east gate, so a detailed investigation of the east side was required.

The two asked nearby shops and residents in detail whether they had spotted anyone particularly suspicious in the past few days, but they did not get any clues.

After returning home at noon, Meng Siqi sorted out the materials she had inquired about in the morning. In the afternoon, she planned to expand the scope of the investigation.

She was sitting near the door, and when she looked up she saw Tang Xiaochuan walking quickly into the office with a newspaper in his hand. He seemed to have something urgent to do, and walked straight towards Han Changlin.

After a while, she was suddenly stunned by Han Changlin's furious voice: "Who the hell is this! How can this be made?"

Meng Siqi immediately put down the pen in her hand and looked over there. Han Changlin's forehead was bulging with veins and his angry expression was reflected in her eyes. It seemed that he was extremely angry this time.

The next second, she saw Han Changlin rushing out of the door with the newspaper in his hand, followed by Tang Xiaochuan, "Hey, Captain Han, calm down."

Zhao Lei Ting just came back from the bathroom, with a puzzled look on his face, and asked Meng Siqi what was going on. Meng Siqi could only shake her head. She guessed that the news published in the newspaper might be related to the case that the police were currently investigating.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, there was a sound of slamming the table and shouting in the office next door: "Who the hell let the reporter in!"

"You're all just pretending to be dead, right?"

After several shouts, someone finally admitted their mistake: "Korean team, the woman was wearing a forensic uniform yesterday. We didn't notice her at the time. When she went in to take pictures, we found out and confiscated her camera. Who knew she had secretly changed the camera?"

“They are all just eating dry rice!”

After a while, Han Changlin returned to the office with hurried footsteps. He was still angry and put the newspaper heavily on Zhao Leiting's desk. "Zhao Leiting, you and Meng Siqi go to the newspaper office to find this reporter immediately. No matter what, get the remaining photos back to me!"

"Okay, Korean team, let's set off immediately."

In the car, Meng Siqi opened the newspaper. It was the Jinyang Shixin Evening News, which meant it was published last night. An entire page was devoted to the report on the murder of worker Zhu and his family.

The four red words "family-annihilating tragedy" were prominently visible, somewhat shocking. The newspaper also published two photos of the scene, one was a bird's-eye view of the male victim, Zhu Gongyou, lying in a pool of blood, and the other was a distant view of the female victim, You Meihua.

Although they are all black and white photos, the color of the blood has faded, and the pictures are a little distorted in the newspaper, they are still visible to the naked eye and are terrifying.

At the end of this report, there is a sentence saying that more information about the scene will be revealed tomorrow.

So Han Changlin thought that there were photos that had not been sent out, so he asked the two to retrieve them.

The two men arrived at the newspaper office and explained their purpose directly. The newspaper had the names of the writer and proofreader, but not the photographer, so it was possible that the writer and the photographer were the same person.

Ten minutes later, Meng Siqi guessed correctly that the reporter was the one who took the photo.

In the reception room downstairs of the newspaper office, a woman in her twenties, wearing a fine red suit, slightly curly hair, and fiery red lips, smoked a cigarette and said nonchalantly, "Yes, I took the photo."

"Ms. Wen, do you know that your behavior has already caused adverse effects?" Zhao Leiting warned her seriously.

The woman named Wen Huizhi put the cigarette butt into the ashtray and asked, "Young comrade, I don't know how I caused such a bad influence. Our unit and your police station have always had a cooperative relationship. What I did was reasonable and logical."

Zhao Leiting said righteously: "You pretended to be a forensic doctor, entered the criminal scene prohibited by the cordon without permission, and secretly photographed the victim's privacy. Do you think your behavior is reasonable?"

Wen Huizhi licked her thick lips and said, "If there is a fine, I am willing to pay for those photos."

Zhao Leiting almost rolled his eyes. After exchanging a glance with Meng Siqi, he stood up and warned in a tone that was neither light nor heavy: "Ms. Wen, you should come back to the police station with us."

"No," Ms. Wen suddenly became excited, "I have done nothing wrong. The right to know is the legal right of every citizen. The general public also has the right to know to obtain true reports..."

Zhao Leiting was speechless for a moment after being refuted, and his Adam's apple rolled violently.

"Ms. Wen!" Meng Siqi pushed the newspaper forward and reminded her, "Do you think this is also a true report?"

Her finger pressed on a part of the article. Wen Huizhi had written the article herself, so she must have known very well what it was about. In the newspaper, Wen Huizhi claimed that the deceased, Zhu Gongyou, was a financial manager of a steel company, and that he might have met his enemies for economic reasons before his death, which was why his enemies came to seek revenge.

Wen Huizhi looked at the newspaper and said in a dignified manner, "As journalists, we must analyze the case. Otherwise, we have lost the spirit of cultural freedom. This summer, the finance office of the unit where Zhu worked caught fire. Do you think it was just a coincidence? From all the signs, it is not unreasonable for Zhu to have made an enemy at work."

"Do you know that evidence is needed to solve a case?" Zhao Leiting sat down suddenly, and the chair creaked. It seemed that he was a little helpless, especially facing such a sharp-tongued lady.

Facing Zhao Leiting's rebuke, Wen Huizhi instead revealed a disdainful smile, which was even more obvious against the backdrop of her thick red lips. She methodically took out the golden box from her pocket and pulled out a thin cigarette with her long red nails.

"I'll calm down and have a cigarette, it's okay." Wen Huizhi took out a lighter casually.

Meng Siqi was very calm. When Wen Huizhi lit a cigarette, she said calmly, "Ms. Wen, maybe you were just being witty or eloquent and promoted what you call cultural freedom, but do you know that at this moment, the murderer was also reading this newspaper and the report you wrote? Maybe some of your words stimulated their emotions and made them choose more extreme behavior, thus creating a new tragedy!"

Wen Huizhi blew out a puff of smoke and paused with the cigarette butt between her hands. She seemed to be listening attentively, with her eyebrows slightly lowered.

Meng Siqi said seriously: "In the new tragedy, maybe the victim is your friend, your relative, or even yourself! You live in this city and are a well-known single woman. Do you think the murderer knows you?"

She spoke the last sentence in a powerful voice, and Wen Huizhi's expression suddenly darkened from arrogance just now. She swallowed slowly, and seemed to have no sign of refuting anything.

Zhao Lei Ting couldn't help but look at Meng Siqi, with a hint of praise in his eyes.

After a while, Wen Huizhi nodded, but her tone was still somewhat unwilling to admit defeat, "Yes, you are right, I can stop writing this report for the time being."

She said "temporarily", perhaps she only made some temporary concessions due to the police's investigation.

Zhao Leiting quickly said, "I hope you can give us all the photos you took yesterday."

"I just took those two photos. And you took my camera away."

Zhao Lei Ting shook his head helplessly, "Think about it again, it's really just those two photos. If you cooperate, the camera will naturally be returned to you."

Wen Huizhi sighed, took out a rolled-up paper ball from her pocket, and placed it on the table. "This is a film roll. It has been exposed to light. You can take it away."

Zhao Lei Ting put it away, "Okay. We'll check it when we get back."

On the way back, Zhao Leiting complained while driving: "This Wen Huizhi just needs a lesson!"

Meng Siqi said lazily: "They just do this for a living. To be frank, she has no choice, but in the end... she is a little too conceited."

Zhao Lei Ting glanced at her and said with a smile: "Why do I feel that your words to educate Wen Huizhi are really good, and you have some skills!"

"Why, do you really think I can't do anything?"

"No, no, you know too much. Really, I'm happy to help you, follow your lead, and help you realize your great ideals in life."

"Come on!" Meng Siqi couldn't help but laugh.

Zhao Leiting was driving very seriously. Meng Siqi turned his head and just happened to see his profile in the sunlight outside the car window. He had a neat short hair, a heart-shaped face, and a slightly baby face. He looked younger than his actual age.

He is very sunny and has dimples when he smiles, which reminds people of the very active sports committee member in the school. He also has a high nose bridge and bright eyes, which makes him a handsome guy.

"I have a question." Zhao Lei Ting turned half of his face and met Meng Siqi's gaze. He hesitated and asked when he looked forward, "How do you know Wen Huizhi is a single woman?"

"Women's intuition."

"cut!"